100 Eternal Moments: Lunar Flare
by Taliax
Summary: Platonic Axel/Saix for set 1 of Raberba girl's "Other Kinds of Love" Challenge. Axel and Saix have been, are, and always will be best friends, no matter how many bumps that friendship has to go through. Some are canon, some AU. Often includes Roxas and Xion. T for references to violence in chapter 9.
1. Bread

**A/N: Yes, I started yet another challenge series. XD This is Set 1 of Raberba girl's "Other Kinds of Love" challenge, where the main requirement is to focus on platonic love and have no romance. AkuSai's kind of an easy start since I don't ship yaoi anyway, but I really like their friendship. C:**

**This first drabble takes place in the same universe as another AU I just started, "More than Bread." Actually, that story was originally an entry for this challenge, but it got ridiculously long. ^^; This one fits better, anyway.**

_xX~100 Eternal Moments~Xx_

_Set 1 – Lunar Flare_

_1 – Bread_

Before Axel, Roxas, and Xion joined my family (though it often felt more like I joined theirs), I wouldn't be caught asleep past seven a.m. on the weekends. However, after several days of school and nights of destroying Heartless, usually in the far corners of Radiant Garden, I appreciated a chance to catch up on lost sleep.

My room was surprisingly silent when I awoke – no now-familiar sounds of my sibling's breathing. Had they possibly woken up early for once?

"Saïx!" Xion waved a sticky, powder-white hand when I made my way downstairs. "Surprise!"

I ignored her for the moment because Roxas was _sticking his head in the oven. _I jerked him back since Axel was too far away; Mom was nowhere in sight.

"What are you doing?" I asked incredulously. Axel rushed over from where he was helping Xion knead the next loaf, white flour spotting his dingy old shirt that he refused to throw away.

"I just wanted to see if it was done…" Roxas muttered.

"Rox." Axel looked torn between laughing and smacking his – our – brother upside the head. "Unless you want to burn off that adorable hair of yours, keep your head out of there."

Roxas's face reddened in embarrassment. "But when's it gonna be done?"

"Sooner than mine and Xi's," Axel answered.

I stared at the kitchen, which already looked messier than if a Heartless had broken in. "Did Mom give you permission to bake bread?"

"We went in her room and asked and she said yes," Roxas said.

Mom, unlike me, never awoke before ten a.m. on Saturday mornings. "Are you certain?"

"Well… she might've still been asleep…" He shrugged. Axel grinned sheepishly, and I sighed.

"I don't suppose there's any point in stopping you now. Hopefully this won't end in disaster." It was a far-fetched hope, considering their reputation. Roxas had already broken one of the toilets trying to see what sort of things would flush down it, and Xion couldn't tell the difference between electronic lights and Heartless eyes in the middle of the night, and Axel had a bad habit of playing with his weapon-grade Frisbees inside the house.

I left them and went to the other side of the kitchen to check on Xion, who was still kneading the dough. She must've paid more attention to Mom than I thought; she folded it over and pushed down into it with the heels of her palms like she'd been making bread her whole life.

"Does my bread look good so far?" She asked, standing back from the flour-covered counter to let me see. For the most part it looked normal… except…

"Xion, you can't bake bread with dandelions, crushed animal crackers, and marshmallows."

Her expression fell as if I had kicked her metaphorical puppy. "Why not?"

I sighed. I may be more immune to Puppy Eyes than Axel, but it's still unpleasant to be on the receiving end of such a crushed look. "Because–"

_BOOM! _Smoke poured from the oven, which both Roxas and Axel were far too close to.

"I didn't do it!" Roxas shouted instantly.

"What did you two-" I coughed out the smoke that was trying to clog my lungs.

"Thought I'd speed things up a little, but, uh, My Firaga's too hot for your oven to handle," he replied, having the decency to look somewhat guilty. "Xi, could you ice this thing over?"

Xion cast a Blizzaga, encasing the oven in a block of solid ice. I dropped my head into my hands.

"At least it stopped smoking," Roxas pointed out.

Needless to say, it was a long time before we were allowed to bake again.


	2. Time

_xX~100 Eternal Moments~Xx_

_Set 1 – Lunar Flare_

_2 - Time_

"Saï—"

"No."

"But—"

"No."

"But—!"

"_Axel." _Saïx whirled around in frustration. "We simply don't have time for ice cream today. I have missions to arrange, reports to grade—"

"Then why are you standing in front of the ice cream cart?" Axel grinned smugly, crossing his stick-like arms. Saïx blinked and turned back around.

The ice cream-lady smiled sweetly. "Your usual, dear?"

Oh, this was just _wonderful _for his dignity. "…I'll take two. Please."

He exchanged one hundred munny for the two sea-salt bars, then shoved one at Axel before marching up the hill towards Station Heights.

"Come again, dears!" The lady called with a wave. She was really too nice for her own good; few other members would appreciate the extra attention on undercover missions. And _all _of their missions were undercover.

"I coulda bought my own," Axel said, but he ripped off the wrapper without any more protest.

"I'll just add it to your list of debts you never repaid."

Axel grinned, mouth already stained blue with ice cream. "I've paid you by keeping you from working yourself to death. Seriously, Saï, you've gotta take more time off."

"Which is what we are doing now. Don't make me change my mind." Saïx unwrapped his own treat once they corridored to the top of the clocktower. He never understood why they walked to the base of the station before opening a corridor, but Axel insisted on it. Probably just to waste more of his time.

"It would be a lot more fun if you didn't act like vacations are painful," Axel commented.

"I'd like to see you try to relax if you knew how much work is piling up back at the castle, not even considering what mess Demyx or Xigbar could be getting into…"

"Saï." He clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You're not a slave. Or a mom. You don't have to spend all your time working and worrying."

Saïx sighed. "It's not like I can spend my time enjoying myself either, without a—"

"Oi, just shut up and eat your ice cream," Axel interrupted lightly. Saïx did, mostly because he enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Maybe taking a little time off at the end of the day wasn't so bad, for the sake of friendly banter, salty-sweet desserts, and his sanity.


	3. Shrine

_xX~100 Eternal Moments~Xx_

_Set 1 – Lunar Flare_

_3 – Shrine_

"I hit the _jackpot,_" Axel said, trying to restrain his laughter. Saïx had asked him to basically perform recon on the senior members, but he hadn't expected he'd actually _find _anything, much less something this crazy, and on _Xemnas_. The icing on the cake. "You're not gonna believe it."

"I highly doubt that," Saïx replied dryly. "You haven't had to sit through hour-long meetings with him."

"Heh, well I _highly doubt _the boss man already told you all his secrets. Sometimes you gotta figure things out the old-fashioned way."

"You mean by skulking around in other's business."

"Hey, you were the one who said it would be a good idea," Axel defended, taking the steps up to the Altar of Naught two at a time.

"I said to _observe their activities, _perhaps indiscreetly, but I did not say to sneak into their personal rooms. And be quiet; Xemnas could be up there."

"Whatever, he won't hear us." Axel shrugged him off and continued to lead the way.

When they finally arrived at the top of the Castle That Never Was, Saïx just stared. Some sort of pavilion-like structure, seemingly crafted from materials found in the basement (like scrap metal, cardboard, duct tape, and tye-dyed pillow cases), shuddered in the wind. From it hung a heart-shaped piece of cardboard painted to look like the moon. There was also a fancy table covered in Heartless plushies, WINNER sticks, radioactive pie, and other assorted objects the Organization's Superior might not want Axel and Saïx to see.

"It's a shrine," the Diviner said emotionlessly. Even if he had a heart, he wasn't sure if he would've been surprised. Probably just disappointed. "I should have expected this."

"Come on, you're not surprised?!" Axel gaped.

"Have you ever listened to Xemnas? He declared his undying love and loyalty to Kingdom Hearts in practically every meeting."

"Oh… guess I slept through those, heh." He ruffled his hair sheepishly. It wasn't like he ever needed to pay attention; Saïx was the one trying to rise through the ranks. Axel's job was just to clear the path.

"Though I'll admit this is rather… unnerving. If I had the capacity to be unnerved."

Axel shrugged. "Our boss is a lunatic."

Saïx shot him a look, and he raised his hands defensively.

"Fine, our boss is a fruitcake, or some other, non-moon-related word for a psycho. What do we do now?"

Saïx turned his back on Xemnas's shrine. "Leave and never speak of this again."

"Aww, so I can't-?"

"No blackmail."

"You're no fun."

**A/N: For the record, Xemnas wouldn't have been embarrassed in the slightest if he knew Axel and Saïx had seen his shrine. xP**


	4. River

**A/N: This one is a sort of medieval-fantasy-kingdom AU; hopefully everything makes sense in context. I left hints of backstory that should explain enough.**

**This was inspired by my friend Lexicon, who explained our friendship as something along the lines of, "you're like a princess and they hired a murderer as your bodyguard and somehow it worked out." Enjoy. **

_xX~100 Eternal Moments~Xx_

_Set 1 – Lunar Flare_

_4 – River_

Axel liked his new job. Saïx called it "babysitting," but he would take bodyguard duty over his old job as an assassin any day. No more fighting and lying, sneaking and backstabbing to stay at the top of the ladder. He had no idea how Saïx arranged it. After all, the prince and princess had once been on his hit list, and according to his blue-haired friend, they technically still were.

But Axel and Saïx weren't under Master Xehanort's orders anymore. Master Eraqus was surprisingly forgiving… So he was now the Royal Bodyguard for the five-year-old heirs. Not a bad job.

Most of the time.

XXX

"S-so c-c-cold…" Axel shivered, wrapping the blanket so tightly around himself that only his face and a few soaked, flattened spikes of hair were visible.

"We made you hot chocolate," Xion announced cheerfully, shoving the overflowing mug at where his hands should be. Where did they get that? He hoped they didn't boil the water themselves, but he didn't know how else they would've made it. Maybe Cinderella left some sitting out in the kitchen.

"We should feed it to him," Roxas suggested. "Like how he makes us eat as-pair-gus, except hot chocolate doesn't taste gross." He took the mug and started to tip it towards Axel's mouth, but the redhead leaned further back into the cushy chair.

"Rox Rox I'm g-good, I'll drink it myself." He forced his arms out from under the blanket and grasped the mug tightly. The boiling-hot liquid should've burned his throat, but it felt like liquid life.

"Do you feel better now?" Xion asked for the hundredth time.

"K-kinda…" He was so pathetic, relying on his two kids to take care of him. Not that they were technically his; it was just easier to call them that. He pretty much raised them, anyway. Saïx wasn't far off with the babysitting comment. "How are you kids already dry?"

"I dunno." Roxas shrugged. "How are you still wet?"

Axel's teeth just chattered in response. Xion's shoulders slumped in shame.

"He's still not better. We have to make him better, Roxas," she said like it was her one purpose in life. "It's our fault he's wet and cold."

"Xi, d-don't feel bad…" He would've hugged her, but the blanket and the bone-chilling cold immobilized him. "It's kinda my job." Even if it wasn't, he would've jumped into the freezing river to save them anyway.

"But we're bad for playing in the river."

Roxas pouted. "It's not all our fault. Didn't know the water was so fast."

"But it _is _our fault, and we have to make him better!" Xion exclaimed, on the verge of tears.

"Xi – please, Xi, don't cry—" Man, he always felt like he was kicking a puppy when she made that face. He would've brought them Xehanort's head on a silver platter if it would've made either of them feel better. "I'm f-fine, really—"

They weren't listening. "We could hug him," Roxas suggested to Xion, who was now crying for real. "He always makes us feel warm when he hugs us."

Xion practically flung herself at Axel. "We're so sorry!" She cried into his chest.

"I'm not mad at you, Princess." He smiled and rolled his eyes, resting his chin on her small head. "Like I could ever stay mad at either of you…"

"I know," Roxas said casually, taking his bodyguard and friend for granted. As usual.

"You kids are gonna kill me someday," he muttered through a chuckle. Luckily they didn't hear.

Xion sniffed, looking up at him with watery blue eyes. "So you forgive us?"

"Yes, Xi. I forgive you."

She beamed and huggled him more, like they had swapped places and he was the adorable five-year-old instead of her. Not wanting to be left out, Roxas squirmed under the blanket and snuggled up to Axel's side.

"Thanks…" He was still wet, but they were somehow managing to warm him up. Even if they were cold as ice cubes he wasn't sure he could've driven them away.

Soon the young heirs' snores echoed in the large stone room. Axel felt like napping too, but he wasn't allowed to sleep without calling in the back-up bodyguard, Cloud. (Probably another reason Axel had been able to get this job. Cloud wasn't exactly great with kids.)

"Sleeping on the job. Honestly, I thought we were trying to stay in Master Eraqus's good graces, not get fired and be forced to crawl back to Master Xehanort with our tails between our legs."

Axel opened eyes that he hadn't realized were closed. "Oi, lay off, Saï. It's been a long day."

Saïx sat down in the armchair to Axel's right. "I doubt babysitting could be more exhausting than performing recon in order to organize attacks on Xehanort's kingdom." He always used big words to make his job seem more important. It _was _important, but he never admitted that Axel's job was important too.

"You'd be surprised."

The blue-haired man peered at him curiously. "You're wet."

"Yeah, that's what happens when you jump into an ice-cold river to rescue two crazy kids." Axel shivered and leaned down to set his empty mug on the floor, now that it was out of warmth.

"Maybe you should've assassinated them while you had the chance," Saïx idly replied. His friend glared and held Roxas and Xion closer.

"Don't even joke about that, man. They're worth all the trouble they get into."

"Hmph. You truly were made for your job."

Axel smiled, though it was bitter. "Definitely beats being an assassin. How 'bout you? Had enough of sneaking around behind enemy lines yet?"

"It may be difficult, but I prefer it to coddling problematic children."

"You sure? I could always put in a recommendation for you to take Cloud's spot…"

"Not a chance."

**A/N: This ended up way more AkuRokuShi than AkuSai, but there was still AkuSai at the end so it counts? *sweatdrop***

**Cloud's the backup because in my mind hiring a bodyguard is kinda similar to hiring a mercenary. Or something. So he's there to protect them, but not great at the "mothering" kind of thing Axel does. :P I would've had Aqua be the backup, but she has a job as a knight along with Terra and Ven (and Zack if anyone cares). She sometimes helps out with Roxas and Xion doing more-motherly things. She, Terra, and Ven do a lot of different things wherever they're needed; they're pretty much Eraqus's adopted family. So yeah, I actually thought through some backstory on this. I don't know if I'll ever write any of it, though; AUs tend to go out of control on me.**


	5. Salty

**A/N: Another AU. This one is based off of **_**Monsters, Inc.**_**; if you've watched the movie you'll recognize this scene. If not, I think I added enough backstory for it to make sense. **

**Character swaps/equivalents: Axel for Sulley, Saïx for Mike, Vanitas for Randal, Xehanort for Mr. Waternoose, Roxas and Xion for Boo (though they're around five, not as young as her). This is in Axel's POV.**

_xX~100 Eternal Moments~Xx_

_Set 1 – Lunar Flare_

_5 – Salty_

I thought after seeing Vanitas kidnap Roxas and Xion things couldn't get any worse. I thought after Mr. Xehanort banished me and Saïx things couldn't get any worse. I thought after dropping out of the portal into a dark, cold, and salty ocean things couldn't get any worse.

But when your best friend is a Berserker, things can _always _get worse.

"Saïx!" I yelled, holding up my chakrams just in time to block his claws. "You're not helping!"

He roared unintelligibly. Of course, it's kinda hard to talk when your monster-form is a werewolf. Since he was a Berserker and his monster-form was only triggered by extreme anger, he wasn't an EG (Emotion-Gatherer) like me, but if he could control his monster-form he'd scare kids way more than I ever have. _I _was scared, and that wasn't even technically possible. His rage had never been directed at me. Well, there was that one time I left the fridge open and all our food went bad and he nearly blew up at me, but he didn't morph.

Anyway, that's not important. Back to the part where I was trying not to get killed by my best friend.

I jumped back from his jaws and morphed into my monster-form, which is the coolest transformation in the history of monsters. In my own biased opinion, of course. I call it _The Flurry of Dancing Flames._

"Okay, no more mister nice Axel."

Flames heated the dark sand into almost-glass as I sprinted at Saïx, chakrams bared. He lunged with yellow claws, but I dodged and sliced his flank. Howling in pain, he counterattacked with a reckless tackle. Saïx would never be so stupid in his normal Nobody form. Since I was made of fire, all his attack did was singe his fur.

Werewolf-Saïx staggered backwards and rolled in the damp sand to put out his flaming blue fur. I thought that meant he was coming to his senses, but then he growled viciously and tackled me into the ocean.

"No Saï please no-!"

Underwater cold freezing _salt in my eyes_ burning choking _dying_ fire gone drowning _dying_—

GAAAASP, my head was above water, I wasn't in monster-form and I was still freezing but I was _alive. _Somehow.

"I could have killed you." Saïx. Saïx was in Nobody-form, not a werewolf. He was dragging me by my hood, swimming back to shore. Saving my life. The freezing saltwater must've shocked him out of his rage.

"You almost did." I shivered violently, not completely from the cold.

"I probably should have," he grumbled.

"Then who would k-keep you c-company for the rest of your exile?" I grinned, but it came out as more of a grimace.

"Maybe him." Saïx nodded towards shore. From my angle I couldn't see that far – how did we get so far out in the water? – and salty waves smacked me in the face every time I tried. Man, so _cold…_

Finally Saïx dragged me onto the sand. He dropped me unceremoniously on the ground.

"You get us banished to the Dark Margin, and I still save your worthless backside. Clearly your idiocy has infected me." Saïx shakes his head disgustedly.

"Okay, yeah, I know this is bad, but you can't blame me for trying to save Rox and Xi from Vanitas. Who knows what that creep is doing with them—"

"Absorbing their emotion with Vexen's machine and feeding that emotion directly to Kingdom Hearts. Likely also resulting in their being turned into Heartless." Horrified, I stared up at him from my helpless position until he elaborated, "I got a glimpse of the instruction manual from the extraction seat. It showed the whole process."

I forced a chuckle even though I felt like puking. "At least you didn't have any emotions to extract." But the kids do… they do…

Saïx stood over me silently, a look of concentration on his face. I swallowed the fear trying to lodge in my throat. Rox and Xi were gonna be okay. Xehanort and Vanitas weren't getting away with this.

"Hey, Saï?"

"Hm?"

"How does your monster-form work if you don't have a heart to get angry with?"

"…I don't know." He reached down and pulled me out of the sand. I brushed myself off, frowning at the tangles in my no-longer-spiky hair. Not that that was the biggest problem right now.

"Y'know, Mr. Xehanort doesn't really care about powering the city, he just needs us to collect emotions to power Kingdom Hearts and get our hearts back… but how do we know we don't already have them?" Saïx didn't respond, just kept staring at the ground like it held the secrets of the universe. "I know I felt something with Roxas and Xion. Maybe that's just some special Human superpower, but I did."

"They're only kids," Saïx muttered. "Human kids at that. I can't fathom why you're so attached to them."

I shook my head. There was no use trying to convince him with words; he'd never see how special they were unless he tried. And he wouldn't be able to try if they got turned into Heartless. "They need me, Saï. I have to save them."

"You should've thought about that before you got us _exiled. _How do you expect to save anyone else when you can't even save us?"

…Good question. Too bad I didn't have an answer.

Before I could spit out something lame, muffled footsteps came to my rescue from farther down the dark beach. I could barely make out the shape of a man, walking all straight and proper. When he came closer I saw that he had blond hair and a goatee, which were both clean and trimmed, like he didn't live on a dirty beach in the middle of nowhere.

"Is that the guy you were talking about?" I asked, and Saïx nodded.

As the man continued to walk towards us, he called out, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Nah, not really," I said, eyes narrowing slightly. It's hard not to be suspicious when you'd just been betrayed by your evil boss and coworker. "The name's Axel, got it memorized?"

The man dipped his head respectfully, which kinda weird. What time period was this dude from? "I'll commit it to memory."

"My name is Saïx." Saïx gave a similar nod back. But that's just the kind of thing Saïx does. "May we know yours?"

"If you must, you may call me DiZ. But you would be more interested in a way off of this beach, would you not?"

I grinned. "You can get us out of here? Really?"

"Indeed. Follow me."

We followed DiZ, no questions asked. After all we'd been through today, I doubted things could get any worse.


	6. Sweet

**A/N: Random modern AU; Axel and Saïx are in college. I went through a ton of different ideas before settling on this one. One of those ideas was a MLP crossover, which I will eventually finish and post separate from this series since it got too long and didn't fit the prompt very well.**

_xX~100 Eternal Moments~Xx_

_Set 1 – Lunar Flare_

_6 – Sweet_

It was a great lack of foresight on my part to give Axel a copy of my apartment key. He barged in like he lived here – which he practically did – with his arms full of plastic grocery bags.

"One day you'll come in when I'm not home and Jasmine will think you're a burglar," I commented dryly.

"Nah, she's used to me by now." He grinned and dropped the bags on the table, right on top of the Calculus notes I had been studying. I frowned. "Besides, I bet she's out with Al today."

"Your assumption is correct, but that isn't the point." When I pushed the bags away, I discovered that they were filled with boxes of heart-shaped 'Zebra Cakes,' ridiculous treats that Xion always used to beg Father for. And me, on the occasions that she accompanies me to the grocery store. "You don't honestly expect me to eat those."

"C'mon, it's Valentine's Day! The second-best excuse for eating junk food out of the whole year!" He ripped the plastic off of one of the snack cakes and shoved it messily into his mouth, puffing his cheeks to near-impossible size.

"You eat more than enough junk food without an excuse," I pointed out. Axel was a great cook; why did he insist on eating so much processed garbage? And how did he stay anorexically thin while doing so? Probably a combination of high metabolism and the lack of muscle-building nutrients.

He swallowed and wiped sugary crumbs off his mouth with the back of his hand. "Well, it's not like we've got a better way to celebrate. I figured you'd flip out worse if I picked up some girls than if I brought a lot of sweets."

True as that may be, I still didn't want boxes of unhealthy food crowding my kitchen. "I wish Jasmine or Xion was here to lecture you on the proper treatment of women," I chose to reply.

"You know I'm joking."

"Yes, but it would still be rather amusing to watch." I could use some amusement today, after listening to Xion "squee" about going out with Roxas, Jasmine leaving to spend the day with Aladdin, and spending most of my Saturday reviewing Calculus problems. Not that I wanted a significant other like my roommates; in fact I preferred not to have those complications. I simply didn't enjoy a holiday dedicated to rubbing the fact in my face and trying to make me feel inferior for it.

Axel snorted, plopped down in the chair beside me, and started consuming another sugar-bomb.

"I can only imagine the stress you're inflicting on your pancreas," I said in disgust.

"What was that about pancakes?"

"_Pancreas."_

He stared at me like I was an alien. Sometimes I wondered if that was true. "Y'know I don't have a clue what you're talking about, right?"

I rolled my eyes and muttered, "You might when you go into insulin shock…"

"Huh?"

"*sigh* Never mind."

"So, you want one?" Axel asked, waving a heart-shaped cake in my face. I swatted his hand away.

"What could have _possibly _made you think I wanted one?"

"Man, it's too hard to do anything nice for you." He pouted. "You need to eat some sweet stuff so you won't be bitter all the time."

His pun, while not particularly funny, made me smile. "I never said I don't appreciate your company. I simply don't want any of your junk food."

"Heh, I knew it would be a good idea to bring them here." Axel grinned in his 'I-didn't-tell-you-the-whole-story' way. "I mean, you can eat them if you ever change your mind, but I just stocked up on them while they were dirt cheap and didn't want Dem and Rox snarfing them down."

"I told you to choose more responsible roommates." I didn't mention that Xion might "snarf" them down almost as quickly.

"What do you want me to do? _You _wouldn't room with me."

"Exactly. I follow my own advice." I half-smiled. The real reason, we both knew, was because since Roxas and Xion were dating we didn't want them sharing an apartment, and both Axel and I wanted our respective siblings to room with us.

"Hey, I can _totally _be responsible," he retorted, which made me snort.

"When was the last time you tried to clean your apartment?"

"Last – uh, was it-? No, wait – uhh…" Axel ruffled his hair sheepishly. "Okay, you have a point."

"You should clean today," I suggested. It was a little unfair of me – Jasmine and Xion were much tidier than Demyx and Roxas. But he still shouldn't live in an environment that rats would turn up their noses at.

"Pfft, on a holiday? That's even worse than doing homework. Speaking of which-" He flipped my textbook shut, and the resulting gust scattered my notes, which I hastily reorganized.

"And I suppose you would suggest something completely unproductive as an alternative."

He grinned. "Only the unproductivest waste of time ever."

I neglected to point out his redundancy, or that "unproductivest" wasn't a word. "As long as it doesn't involve eating sickening amounts of sweets."

"Fun as that sounds, I've got a better idea."

And that was how I came to spend my Valentine's Day playing makeshift hockey in the park with brooms for sticks and a plastic My Little Pony figure instead of a puck.

**A/N: For anyone who cares, Axel randomly bought said MLP just for the purposes of this game. (It was Twilight Sparkle.) ^^;**

**I felt like the dialogue in this one doesn't flow as well as the others… *sigh* Probably from all the rewrites I had to do. Plus it's Saïx's POV, and he isn't as nice to me as Axel is.**

**Um, yeah, so I like Zebra Cakes. And we never buy junk food like that in my family. And I think they make special heart-shaped ones around Valentine's Day? Yeah. My random thought process.**

**Axel should probably know what a pancreas is… *sweatdrop***

**Roxas and Xion are only a couple in this because I needed an explanation for why Axel and Saïx aren't roommates. XD/*sweatdrop* (Originally Riku was going to be mentioned as Xion's boyfriend, because I felt like it.) Hopefully my random pairing drops don't count as too much romance since they weren't even present on-screen, and nobody was paired with Axel or Saïx.**


	7. Quiet

**A/N: This is canon-based, but the timeline is seriously messed up. Also, the AkuShi in this is not romantic.**

_xX~100 Eternal Moments~Xx_

_Set 1 – Lunar Flare_

_7 – Quiet_

Xion had always been quiet. Axel hadn't even known she could speak until he came home from C.O. and helped Roxas find her. She used to stand there in the Grey Area, creepily silent, faced shadowed by her hood. Axel never paid her much notice, except to drag Roxas away from staring.

Now… now it was completely different. He _cared_. One of his best friends was in a coma, and even though she looked peaceful, like she was merely sleeping, he couldn't keep worried thoughts from buzzing in his head.

"Axel," Roxas asked quietly while the redhead's gaze bored into her undisturbed face. "She's going to wake up, right?"

" 'Course, Rox," he said with fake optimism, putting on his Lying Smile and dodging the blond's eyes. "You woke up, remember?"

"Yeah…" But he didn't look convinced.

_Did Roxas look like this when he was asleep? _Axel wondered. _Xion must've been here worrying, just like us… maybe a little more panicked since she's a girl… wish I could've been there for them then. _But at least he was here now.

"I wish we could do something," Roxas said hopelessly.

_So do I, Rox, so do I. _"Well… we – well you really – can collect lots of hearts. That way there won't be so much work for her when she wakes up."

"I guess that's better than nothing." Roxas sighed and gave the sleeping Xion a gentle hug. "Wake up soon, okay?" Turning back to Axel, he added, "I guess I'll go to bed. See you later."

"Yeah. See ya later," Axel replied, but he couldn't bring himself to leave yet.

_Saïx was an idiot to give her that mission… why her? Why should she have to take out the imposter? Her job is heart collection; I'm the assassin… it doesn't make any sense._

Axel sat on the edge of her bed, beside her face. "What's up with you two falling asleep on me?" He tried to joke, but it came out hollow. "What am I gonna do with you…"

"Talking to an unconscious puppet? Pitiful."

Axel's head jerked up – When had Saïx entered the room? – and his eyes narrowed. "What's your problem? Ran out of dog treats?"

The blue-haired Nobody stood just inside the doorway. "If you expect me to rise to that bait, you're going to be disappointed."

"You're no fun anymore. Jerk."

Saïx didn't reply to that, either. Just stood there, watching Axel watching Xion.

"I don't get it," the redhead finally said. "If you don't have a heart, why do you act like you dislike her so much?"

"Why do _you _act like you do like it?" Saïx flipped the question. Axel noticed how he used 'it' instead of 'her.'

_I don't understand you anymore, Isa. _Axel sighed. "You wouldn't get it… it's not acting. Not with either of them. I don't get it myself, it just… isn't."

"You're right," Saïx admitted. "I don't get it."

He sat on the edge of the bed beside Axel, careful to keep as far away from Xion as possible, like she was contagious. "How do you look at it and see anything more than a puppet?"

"I didn't at first," Axel said, laying a hand on Xion's head. "It was Roxas."

"The Nobody of the keyblade master certainly has some… interesting abilities."

"Like spewing heart-rays and shooting puppy eyes at me until I want to cry like a five-year-old," Axel muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing," he quickly covered. "But anyway, she stopped wearing her hood all the time. How can you not see her as a person?"

Saïx eyed him curiously, like he was wondering if his friend had developed a mental illness. "Axel. Xion has never removed its hood."

"What? Look at her now!" Axel held up one of her stray blonde locks.

"I am." Saïx raised an eyebrow. Either he was completely blind, Axel himself was delusional (which had to be what his friend thought), or Xion was…

"…Wow." Maybe there was a reason why no one else thought she looked like Naminé, other than the fact that few (non-eliminated) members knew of Naminé's existence. Saïx was one of those. _Does she only look like her to me? What about Roxas? _"There was that day she took off her hood, when she asked if we could be friends – that's it."

"What are you speaking of?"

"You have to be her friend. That's the only way you'll see her face."

"…What a ridiculous notion."

"No, really!" Axel scooted back, shifting Xion's head onto his lap. "Try it. Just say, 'I wanna be your friend, Xion.' " He didn't know for sure if it would work since the girl was unconscious and Saïx was unlikely to be sincere, but it was worth a shot.

"No way."

"It won't hurt anything but your pride."

Saïx sighed. "Nothing will come of it." But, in a semi-exasperated tone, and only to prove Axel wrong, he said, "I wish to be your friend, Xion."

It would have been imperceptible to anyone but his best friend, but Saïx's blank expression flickered to astonishment, then confusion.

"See? You saw her!" Axel smiled. "Doesn't she look just like Naminé?"

Saïx shook his head slowly. "…What in the name of Kingdom Hearts did Vexen do to that creature?"

Axel's eyes narrowed. "Saïx, she's a _her. _Get it memorized."

"No. Whatever you're seeing clearly differs greatly from what I saw."

"And what _did _you see?"

Saïx's face still hadn't smoothed back over, though he tried to hide how disturbed he actually was. "The boy. The one with the wooden keyblade. You thought Roxas was his Nobody."

"_Ven?" _Axel asked incredulously, staring down at Xion's face. The face he saw as Naminé, the face Saïx had seen as Ven. _Xion… it doesn't matter. You're still you, nobody else. _Replica or not, Axel knew that she was still his friend.

Saïx again sat silently, pointedly not looking at Xion.

"Hey… she must want to be your friend," Axel realized. "If you saw her without her hood."

Saïx shook his head. "Why would she?"

A smile tugged at Axel's lips. _She._ "Because you're _my_ friend."

"…"

"C'mon, this is the part where you say you're my friend too."

"…You have always been my friend; it is redundant to repeat the fact so often…"

Axel laughed and slung an arm around Saïx's shoulders, and maybe he only imagined it, but Xion's sleeping face seemed to smile.

**A/N: Lol, AkuShi had to completely invade at least one of these, even though it's platonic… *sweatdrop* In two of the 358/2 Days Secret Reports it says that Axel sees Xion as Naminé. Saïx always saw her as a hooded doll. Xigbar saw her as Ven, and I played off of that here. If it wasn't clear, Saïx only saw Xion as Ven for a moment, then he went back to seeing her with her hood up.**


	8. Breeze

**A/N: Canon-based, Saïx's POV, less than a year after he and Axel join the Organization. This one isn't my usual happy-rainbow-unicorn-sparkly-rainbow-magic, but it's still friendship. **

_xX~100 Eternal Moments~Xx_

_Set 1 – Lunar Flare_

_8 – Breeze_

I have never been afraid of heights. Even if I had been, in the past, I am incapable of feeling fear now. So I can only assume that the sickening dizziness that overcomes me as I stare at the concrete far below is a purely physical reaction.

Lightning arcs across the inky sky; thunder, like the crack of a whip, pierces my ears. The clouds split and drops of rain dapple the skyscrapers and ground. A violent breeze transforms the water into cold bullets that pelt my face. My hair is already soaked and matted, but I ignore the minor discomfort.

I take a step closer to the edge, and the wind wrenches downward, whipping my coat around my ankles. Dizziness tricks me into thinking that I'm already falling.

Breathe. Step back. Step forward. Breathe again. This is an idiotic idea; why am I doing this.

It will be easier this way. No berserk rage, no half-lived existence to remind me of what I've lost, no void where my heart used to be. I will join it somewhere, wherever it is.

Not afraid; I wish I was afraid. Maybe I will feel terror in my last few moments before I hit pavement and everything finally goes black.

Breathe. I shut down my thoughts and let the breeze take me –

Stomach drops, breeze and gravity fight to control my fall, but I feel nothing. Still no fear, no panic, only a muted form of regret, if that can be considered a feeling. Nothing, nothing, I will die and there will still be nothing –

Maybe I don't want to die, but there's nothing either way – I'm dying, and I can't force myself to care – None of this feels real, maybe I'm not dying – this could all be a nightmare –

A flaming hand grasps my wrist, and suddenly Axel is falling with me, shouting something unintelligible over the roaring wind while stretching out his other hand to open a vertical dark corridor. We plunge through the darkness, through more air, landing headfirst in a snowdrift.

I pull myself out robotically. So I am still alive; I don't feel relief, nor do I feel disappointment. I could be in shock, but it's hard to tell, especially when Axel's shouting in my ears.

"What were you _thinking?!" _His fist hits my face; I didn't see it coming. It hurts much less than the horrified, betrayed, angry, _scared _look on his face. It seems so real, but it can't be. My own expression is as blank as before. "Saïx, _what were you thinking?!"_

I continue to stare. If I had a heart it would be amusing, watching him pretend to be worked up over another Nobody.

He punches me again, harder. My face is too numb to register the pain. "Stop staring like a zombie and answer me!"

"…Why do you care?"

For a second he looks like I punched him back, but then fire flares up in both his palms and his voice. "I'm your freaking _best friend, _moron! And you just threw yourself off a _building!"_

I don't even shrug, just sit down in the snow and let the cold leech whatever energy I had left. My outside is as numb as my inside. "It doesn't matter."

Axel breaks. He roars at the top of his lungs, throws a flaming chakram so close to my head that it singes part of my damp hair. The spiked wheel sinks halfway into the snow that melts seconds later. Then he sinks into the snow beside me, holding his head in his hands.

"What is _wrong _with you?"

"My heart has been forcibly removed. Obviously many things are wrong," I reply tonelessly.

"Yeah, but I didn't think anybody removed your brain!" He glares at me. His green eyes appear more hurt than angry, and again I wonder how he can conjure such a convincing façade. "You were going to kill yourself."

I'm not sure if "kill" is the proper word, considering I already feel dead. Not for the first time, I wish that I was never created at all, that Isa died in the Heartless attack instead of becoming the horrible monster that is me.

"…I thought it would be easier to be nothing than Nobody."

"Suicide is for idiots," he growls. "Idiots and wimps. I thought you were better than that." He pauses. "_Isa _was better than that."

I wince at my old name. "I am not Isa."

"You think I don't know that, _Saïx?" _He says my name sarcastically. "If you were, you wouldn't give up without a fight."

"There's no point in fighting. We have nothing left to fight for."

"We have _everything _left to fight for!" Axel yells incredulously. "What about Kingdom Hearts? Weren't you so excited about that?"

"It will never work." I don't bother to fake a sigh.

"Why not? All we need is a keyblade wielder—"

"They're all dead." My voice is as hollow as my chest. "I looked up information on keyblades in the library. According to a historical book by Ansem himself, the last ones died or went missing in action a year ago."

His mouth drops open. "You mean –"

"The year before we lost our hearts." How ironic. "Xemnas has us on a wild goose chase. There is no hope left, Axel. And I can't live like this."

If you can call this "living."

I lay back in the snow. There used to be snow in Radiant Garden. Is there snow now in Hollow Bastion? I can't picture it; it wouldn't be the same. Lea and Isa used to have snowball fights that lasted for hours, then make up with hot chocolate afterwards. I can never go back to those days.

Axel sits with his arms loosely wrapped around his knees. "Ansem doesn't know everything. The universe is a big place."

The stars glittering overhead prove his point.

"We'll get our hearts back," Axel says with more conviction than I can comprehend.

"How do you know?"

He shakes his head. "It's not about knowing, it's about believing. And I believe in us."

He smiles a sincere smile, one I haven't' seen in a long time. _He thinks I'm still strong. He doesn't know what they put me through, why my eyes are gold, why I won't go on missions with him anymore._

"…I believe in you, at least," I half-agree quietly. "And you're right. I was an idiot." The admission tastes sour. "Thank you for saving me."

"No prob, Saï." He grins and shoves me lightly. "You'd do the same for me if I suddenly got brain damage, right?"

"I would, but I believe it's too late for that."

My expression stays blank, so it takes him a while to realize –

"Hey, you cracked a joke!" He laughs even though it was at his expense. "I _knew _you weren't all dead inside!"

Not dead. Alive. And as long as I'm alive, I still have a chance of getting my heart back. I would have been ungrateful to throw away that chance, to leave my best friend all alone.

Joking aside, I realize I _would _do the same exact thing for him, if he had been the one to throw himself off of a skyscraper.

And the still-strong bond between us makes me smile.

**A/N: Saïx started on top of Memory's Skyscraper; they corridored to Christmas Town because I figured Axel would need to take them to a place where they could land pretty much safely. Plus, I like Christmas Town.**

**King Mickey should technically be back in Disney Castle at this point, I think. I didn't specify if it was Ansem the Wise or Xehanort pretending to be Ansem who wrote that book, but both of them knew of the King's existence. Maybe this was the point where Mickey went into the Realm of Darkness to find the Kingdom Key D? *Timeline fail***


	9. Fire

**A/N: This one is one of my favorites, but it's crossover with the **_**Divergent **_**book series (by Veronica Roth), so it might not make a whole lot of sense. **

**Brief-ish Sumarry: there are five factions in this universe: Abnegation (focusing on selflessness), Amity (focusing on kindness), Erudite (focusing on knowledge), Candor (focusing on truth), and Dauntless (focusing on bravery). Sixteen-year-olds take a test to determine which faction they'd be best in, but they get to choose for themselves which one to join, and they must go through initiation in whichever faction they choose. Axel and Saïx transferred to Dauntless, and as part of their initiation they have to go through a simulation that puts them through some of their worst fears. **

_xX~100 Eternal Moments~Xx_

_Set 1 – Lunar Flare_

_9 – Fire_

After Xigbar unceremoniously ejected me from the fear simulation room, I stumbled down the corridor towards the dorms, breathing too hard to think.

_Pull yourself together, Axel, _I told myself. _It wasn't real… It felt so freaking real…_

Getting strapped into the chair was real. Xigbar injecting me with the serum was real. Then I was still strapped to a chair, but I was back in Candor, and someone was injecting me with truth serum instead of the fear simulation serum. Every awful thing I'd ever done, every secret I'd ever had, was spilling from my mouth.

"_I beat up Larxene when we were five but she was being a jerk to Demyx and she deserved it; I set Zexion's book on fire with a magnifying glass back in sixth grade; I cheated off of him in most of my classes, too; I ran away when I was ten 'cause I hate it here, not 'cause I was just a stupid kid; I jumped on a train like the Dauntless and went all the way to–to—"_

No, I didn't want to say it, I wasn't gonna say it, they weren't gonna make me—

"—_They're chasing me, almost caught me—"_

No, _no, shut up, _I'm NOT TALKING. I struggled against the truth serum, biting my tongue until it bled. People in the crowds around me started yelling, chanting choruses of, _"Liar!" "Traitor!" "Cut out his tongue!"_

One of the voices was Saïx. His face was twisted into an ugly scowl, a hundred times harsher than his usual grumpy look.

"_Lies!"_

"_Deception!"_

"_His heart is black!"_

"_Cut out his lying heart!"_

The screeching bodies rushed around me, turning into a violent mob that tore at my hair, clothes, skin.

I winced, biting down harder on my tongue, tasting metallic blood. Fingernails – no, claws – dug into my skin. I screamed until my throat bled; everything was bleeding, I was being torn apart. I screamed louder, until my ears rang.

I was going to die. My own faction was going to kill me.

I caught Saïx's glinting gold eyes as his claws sunk into my neck – _my best friend is killing me._

Tears leaked down my face and mixed with blood, stinging my already agonizing wounds. No, no, _no, _it couldn't end like this, I wouldn't let it.

"_You can't kill me!" _I screeched. The agony didn't stop. I had to move, had to get out of here, had to fight back. _"I won't let you!"_

_I'm. Not. Going. To. Die_.

I thrashed against the restraints until, out of sheer willpower, I made the metal snap.

Then I was back in the torture chamber, and Xigbar was swearing intensely enough to make even me cringe. I got out of there as soon as my shaking fingers could undo the real clasps.

But it wasn't real, it wasn't, felt like it, but it wasn't. If I had said the secret I was about to, though, Xigbar would've heard, and I would've been kicked out faster than you could say "factionless."

I lean against the stone wall, massaging my temples. It's okay. I'm stronger than my fear.

…Not so strong. My legs give out, and I slide down the wall to the ground, shaking silently. I'm not in any real pain, but it feels like all my energy's leaking into the stone below me.

"Just… keep going," I tell myself. Stopping just gives me more time to think. I take a deep breath, stand up, and keep walking. I can pass out for the rest of the day when I get back to the dorms.

Farther down the corridor, I hear a sound other than my echoing footsteps – faint sniffles amplified in the narrow space. Wait, sniffling? I don't blame whoever it is if they had to go through anything like what I did, but I've never heard a Dauntless cry like this before. Now it's not just sniffling, but full-out shuddering sobs.

I see him when the corridor takes a sharp right turn – Saïx, pressed into an indention in the uneven wall. Saïx, with tears reflecting the flickering lamplight on his face. Saïx, making some of the most undignified noises I've ever heard.

"Flaming pants," I breathe. If he heard me, he doesn't show it. His eyes are squeezed shut. "Hey… Saï?" No reaction. "Saï. Something go wrong with your fear-thing?"

He finally realizes I'm here, but he's so distraught he doesn't even look embarrassed. "No, it didn't go wrong." His voice shakes. "It did exactly what it was supposed to."

I sit on the cold ground beside him. "Guess it must've been pretty bad, huh." I don't ask for details; I don't want to be indebted to tell him what my fear was.

He wipes him face with his gloved hand. "Tell _anyone _about this and I'll throttle you."

That sounds more like a Larxene-threat than a Saïx-threat. It makes me worry enough to forget about my own pain.

"You wouldn't throttle your best friend." I grin hugely in that way that always annoys him, hoping to cheer him up. It's not like I'm good at this comforting-thing. " 'Sides, you still owe me for getting Larxene off your back." Now she's turned her bipolar violence/sexual harassment on me instead, but Saïx's friendship turned out to be more than worth it. Nobody can take on initiation alone. Not even me.

"I'm serious, Axel." His yellow-eyed glare makes me want to flinch away even though it's still watery. " 'Pretty bad' is the understatement of the century."

"The rest of us had to face our fears too, y'know." I cross my arms. Yeah, I've got some sympathy, but I'm still shaking myself.

Saïx looks away. "You're right… am I the only one who has been reduced to such a deplorable state?"

Ugh, his stupid fancy Erudite words again. I'd give him a hard time about rubbing his smartness in my face, but I know he only does it to make himself feel better.

I shrug. "Doubt it, but I haven't checked back at the dorms yet."

Saïx closes his eyes, slumps farther down the wall, and says, "You don't look affected at all. What if I'm the only one…?"

"Wha—seriously?" Me? Not affected? To quote Xigbar, 'As if.' "Saï, I'm freaking out right now. I'm just distracting myself by helping you not freak out."

He almost smiles. "Perhaps you have a bit of Abnegation in you."

I laugh at his joke and tap my chest with my fist. "Nah, I'm Dauntless to the core."

I can't decipher the look that shadows his eyes. "You must be, to control your fear so well. I'd estimate you were only in there for four minutes."

No way, it had to be longer. Everyone else before us took at least ten minutes, and it felt like forever in the simulation. Come to think of it, it seemed like Saïx himself only took five minutes at most, though.

"Yeah, well," I frown and shrug it off, "Guess I'm just used to hiding my fear."

Saïx peers at me with that Erudite stare, kind of squinty, like he's looking through a microscope and there's a smudge on the lens. "Is that why you transferred from Candor?"

"What?" I look up in alarm; I'd been dodging his gaze.

"You always seem to be hiding something, yet you were raised in the faction that practically worships honesty and truth."

I give a nervous chuckle. I pride myself on near-effortless deceptions, but Saïx can read me like an open book. Must be the part of his brain that's still Erudite. "Like I said, Dauntless to the core. I was never cut out for Candor." I pause, thinking of a way to shift the subject away from me. "What about you? What made you wanna leave the eggheads?"

He doesn't throw any political correctness at me, which is how I know he's upset again. He's been tough as a brick to crack when all the other initiates were breaking down from stress – his fear simulation must have been high-octane nightmare fuel.

"…It's complicated," he finally replies, eyes clenched shut. Legs tucked tightly against his chest, almost in the fetal position.

It hadn't occurred to me before – I might not have been the only who transferred here out of fear rather than bravery.

"It has to do with your fear, doesn't it?"

He nods weakly. I don't expect him to elaborate, but he says, "I was offered an internship under Professor Vexen when I was ten years old."

O-kay. I would've been fine without an explanation, but now that he started, my curiosity has to know why. "And?"

"That 'internship' turned out to be him using me as a test subject." His voice is monotone now, distant, like he's talking about someone else. "For serum development. Specifically, the Aptitude Test serum."

"Wait, you mean you took the test early?" My eyes widen. "Isn't that illegal or something?"

"Like using ten-year-olds as lab experiments is legal?" He glares and pulls his knees closer to his chest. "He had direct permission from Master Ansem."

I always thought that dude was kinda off. Seriously, calling yourself "Master"? None of the other faction leaders are that narcissistic. (Well, maybe Sephiroth, but nobody questions a guy with a sword that's taller than me.) And from the pictures and videos I've seen, Ansem's creepy. I'm honestly not too surprised that he'd use kids as lab rats.

"What was it like?" I ask. "Y'know, knowing you belonged here while still being stuck in Erudite?"

He looks at me first with confusion, then his eyebrows mold through a flurry of emotions too fast for me to read, finally settling on resigned determination. I never knew his face could be so expressive; most of the time it's chiseled into a scowl.

"I don't belong here," he says quietly, glancing suspiciously down both directions of the corridor. "At least, not entirely."

"Uh… what?" I blink. "If the stress is getting to you, I get it, but you're still at the top of the rankings—"

Saïx rolls his eyes. "I'm not speaking of rankings. What I meant is that Dauntless isn't the only faction I had aptitude for."

"…You're joking, right?" He had to be. Nobody gets more than one aptitude result. I mean, yeah, everyone's heard rumors of a fluke once or twice, but they're just rumors.

"_Axel," _Saïx growls in frustration. "You don't know how serious this is—"

"But you _can't, _Saï, it doesn't work like that."

"Just _listen, _we don't have much time before the next initiate is bound to come through here." He keeps glancing to make sure we're alone, more frantically now. "I got two results on my Aptitude Test: Erudite and Dauntless. Vexen nearly had a heart attack when he found out—"

"Wait wait wait _what?"_

"'_SHUT UP," _he growls, looking like he'll rip my head off if I don't. My mind is whirling, but I like having my head attached to the rest of my body, so I shut up. "I'm risking my life by telling you this. Don't make me regret it."

I mime zipping my lips.

"As I said, Vexen saw me as the scientific discovery of a lifetime. A new problem to solve with even more cruel tests."

"You were ten," I interrupt, my brain just now putting the pieces together.

"Yes—"

"Flaming pants, he tortured you as a kid?!"

He closes his eyes and sighs. "I thought I made that clear in the beginning. And technically I volunteered for it, though I could never have foreseen the outcome." He clears his throat. "Vexen kept his experiments top secret, even from Ansem, once he discovered my Divergent status."

"Divergent?" I can't keep up with him; he might as well be speaking another language.

"That's the term for someone whose aptitude is for two factions," he explains quickly. "Because the experiments were kept secret, I was protected for the time being."

"Protected from what?"

Saïx pinches the bridge of his nose. "There isn't time to answer every question. It's only important that you know that my life would be in great danger if anyone was to find out."

I nod and stay silent.

"Vexen was planning to report his findings to Master Ansem when he had conclusive results, perhaps a serum that could eradicate my conscious will completely," he says in half a breath and continues with the second half, "Before you ask, I am conscious during the fear simulation and any others that I am not in the real world."

I close my half-open mouth, grinning sheepishly.

"So I skewed the results as much as possible, even purposely failing some of the tests, but Vexen is no idiot. Arrogant, and too eager to please Master Ansem, but not an idiot. He managed to create an amplified serum anyway; he would've reported everything, including my Divergence, if a lab fire hadn't destroyed all of his records—"

That's a good thing, right? So why does he look like he's in pain again?

"—While I was there."

My breath hitches in my throat. _Fire. Erudite lab. Six years ago_. The pieces click into place.

"Um… Would that have been on a certain Tuesday in September… maybe the, um, eighth?" I ask, hoping he'll tell me I'm wrong.

His brow furrows. "I didn't think the news reached the other factions. They kept the incident as isolated as possible."

Oh crap. Crap crap craaaap. Saïx sees the look of horror on my face.

"What?" He asks, glancing down the corridor, but nobody's coming.

_Lie, lie about it, I haven't been hiding this long to let the truth out now, _my instincts scream… But Saïx trusted me with his most closely guarded secret. What kind of friend would I be if I lied to him now?

I came here because I was afraid of the truth serum. Well, now I have a chance to prove I can be brave.

"…That wasn't just a lab fire." I swallow the spit pooling in the back of my throat. "I broke in to try and find something that'd help me fight Candor's truth serum…"

I risk a glance at Saïx's face. He's slowly shifting from curiosity to… I can't tell, I'm too afraid to.

"…Some guards were after me, and the only way I could escape was… I didn't have a plan, I was just running and I… I shattered some test tubes… and they exploded." I wince. The memory was so horribly vivid in my head, probably just as bad in Saïx's. My words don't do it justice. Phantom heat singes the skin of my back; echoes of the explosions still haunt my eardrums. "I won't blame you if you hate me."

Saïx shakes his head slowly. "I believe you misunderstand."

Wait, what? I stare at him, but he doesn't look anything close to angry. I rub my eyes to make sure.

"The fear I was forced to relive was the testing Vexen put me through," Saïx explains. "The reason I told you about the fire was to explain how I escaped. Yes, it was terrifying, but if you hadn't started that fire, I would likely be dead by now." He smiles. It's ridiculous; how's he smiling after talking about that? "I suppose I should thank you."

"…And here I thought I was the insane one." But I grin back, suppressing a hysterical laugh. "But you're welcome. Just don't mention it ever again, okay?"

He nods. "Same goes for my secret, obviously."

"Let's shake on it." I trust his promise, it's just so big that it needs some formal binding. I spit into my palm, and he recoils in disgust.

"You don't expect me to touch that."

" 'Course not. Not 'til you spit in your own hand, anyway." I grin.

"No way am I—" He sits up straight, eyes alert.

"What?" I ask even though it's obvious.

"Footsteps. The next initiate must be done."

"He was pretty slow compared to us, don'tcha think?" I comment, scrambling to my feet and pulling him up with me, using my spit-hand.

"_Axel!" _He hisses, wiping his hand on the corridor wall. Now I can hear the footsteps too.

"Heh, you should've shaken earlier. We gotta redo it since you didn't seal it with your spit."

"Shut up and start running."

"But—"

"_NOW."_

**A/N: Extra stuff that didn't fit into the story flow: Vexen had a mental breakdown after the fire, and he had been too quick to jump to conclusions in previous experiments, so his fellow scientists didn't really believe him about Saïx. Saïx originally took the "internship" after his parents died, but when he escaped he went to live with Belle and her family. **

**Xigbar was cursing in the beginning because he just tested two initiates who both beat the simulation. Axel beat it out of sheer stubbornness; Saïx was able to beat it because of his Divergent ability.**

**I have a ton of ideas for this universe but later on in the timeline, so I might write a multi-chapter AU when I'm less busy. Maybe. *Is always busy***

**Please review and tell me if anything is too confusing; I'll try to make it clearer.**


	10. Marshmallow

**A/N: This was an interesting concept I came up with… AU crossover with My Little Pony, with Axel/Flurryflame as Princess Celestia and Saïx/Moonwolf as Princess Luna. ^^; I wanted to end with a better one, but I couldn't come up with anything better than what I did for Fire, and this is the idea I kept coming back to. Sorry if you don't like MLP.**

**For the record, Axel would be a horrible ruler. xP**

_xX~100 Eternal Moments~Xx_

_Set 1 – Lunar Flare_

_10 – Marshmallow_

Ruling a whole land was annoying. Ponies actually expected you to know what to do when your brother who you (kinda-sorta-accidentally) banished to the moon a thousand years ago was supposed to finally come back. At least, the ones who paid attention to their history did. Like Frostbite something-or-other; Teardrop Flurryflame kept forgetting his full name.

"Lord Flurryflame, by my calculations—" Frostbite galloped onto the balcony, where Flurryflame was _trying _to adjust the stupid telescope to look at the moon. The thing probably had a good thousand years of rust caked on it; it had been Moonwolf's. Was still Moonwolf's.

"Yeah, I know, apocalypse in three days, whatever." Flurryflame waved a hoof. Frostbite had made it a habit to barge in on him no matter what he was doing for the past month, rambling about how the blue alicorn would be hungry for revenge. "Working on it."

"But Lord, without the Hearts of Harmony—"

"Frostbite, would I be a ruler of Equestria if I was a complete idiot?" He could still picture the exact look his brother would give him, a look that would say _"Don't ask a question you don't want an answer to."_

The blond unicorn hoofed at the floor nervously. "What I _meant _to ask is, what is your plan for stopping Moonwolf Crescent?"

"_Lord _Moonwolf Crescent," Flurryflame corrected automatically, making Frostbite wince.

"…When he returns, will he still be—?"

"Frostbite." The red alicorn glared, green eyes bright with fire. "If you challenge my brother, you challenge me. Got it memorized?"

"I-I apologize, Lord." The unicorn bowed, practically groveling.

"Get up and get your tail out from between your legs." He sighed, wondering how Frostbite had ended up in the royal court in the first place. He didn't care to think back that far. "I've got a plan. Send a Dusk with a letter to Sunset Keyblaze and Dawncrest Tide."

"…The young pegasus and unicorn who-?"

"_Yes, _them," Flurryflame interrupted before Frostbite could list off one of the many escapades the pair had gotten into. It wasn't their fault that they were completely ignorant; Flurryflame had 'adopted' them from an earth pony village where he had found them abandoned. He still swore that if he ever found out who left them he would banish _them _to the moon for a thousand years.

The alicorn stopped fiddling with the telescope, which was making him want to bang his head against the wall, and summoned a quill, ink, and paper to hastily scrawl a note. "There. Be sure they get it."

He flapped his wings to dismiss Frostbite, who reluctantly trudged back into the palace.

"Finally," he muttered after cleaning the rust off with a shot of magic. Peering through the telescope, he could see the glowing disk that was his brother's prison. "Shoulda done that earlier…"

It felt so close up here, so bright and gold. Like Moonwolf was glaring at him.

"This'll be some family reunion, huh, bro?" Flurryflame smiled sadly, tucking his wings against his sides. "We'll throw a party, go flying, roast marshmallows…" He shook his head, jostling his carefully styled mane of spikes. "Who am I kidding?"

Familiar regrets filled his mind. _If I didn't accuse him… If I wasn't an attention-hogging jerk… If I had just _listened _instead of jumping to conclusions and thinking he was possessed again…_

One thousand years. One thousand years without his brother, without his best friend. Ruling Equestria alone. Very few ponies even remembered there had been a second Lord; none were alive who had personally seen him. None except Flurryflame.

_Sunset and Dawn'll find the Hearts, _he told himself. The same Hearts he and Moonwolf used to possess, the ones they used to banish Xehanort from Equestria and take over the kingdom, back when the names Axel and Saïx were forced upon them. That was lifetimes ago. How much had Moonwolf changed after being alone on his namesake for a thousand years?

_I want the old Moonwolf Crescent back… the one from before we were Lords. Before he got all jealous and I messed everything up. Even someone as stubborn as him can't stay mad after being blasted with heart-rays…_

_He can't stay mad at me… right?_

**A/N: Hopefully this makes sense to non-MLP fans? ^^;;; I'd ramble about several writing-related things here, but I'm sure you don't want to read my lame angsting.**

**Aaaand we're done with set 1. :D I'll miss writing AkuSai drabbles, but I have a slew of AU ideas inspired by just these ten, so if I can't resist writing about them more I might continue those.**

**Set 2 will be for Zexion and Naminé! I really, really need to finish 100NM first, though.**


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